It has been three years since Kumar Prabhas took over the mantle of the India development centre of Unisys - the $4.6 billion global information technology company. Unisys competes with IBM, Accenture, HP and Indian IT players and has close to 3,000 people in the country. Prabhas is focused on making the India centre the key unit in the Unisys universe. In an interview with Kumar Prabhas, VP & GM, Unisys Global Services India & MD, Unisys India, shares the road map on how the India centre will play a bigger role in the years to come.
Unisys has been low-key in comparison to the likes of IBM or Accenture in the Indian market.
To, an extent, yes. Most of my time goes in what we call delivering. The size of the Indian market is very small for us. But for the last three years, we have pretty much transformed ourselves into a mini-Unisys. Everything that happens at Unisys, a good part of that is happening in India. It cuts across all verticals, all portfolio items and all functional areas.
In the Unisys family of global delivery centres where does the India centre stand?
The India centre is very critical as you would expect in any global delivery model. There is huge amount of focus in leveraging offshore. From that perspective India is in the centre of the activity. We are pretty large now in the Unisys world. We are close to 4,000 people in India, but not all are badged as it includes contractors. That is very large if we look at Unisys worldwide. It employs approximately 23,000 people. We have some more way to go. While we don't have a specific number to share, we still want to grow beyond the present level.
You said there was more to leverage the offshore model. So how do you intend to expand the India centre?
We are looking at scaling and it's time we got our fresher engine much more institutionalised. It is not that we have not been doing it. But recently we have put an India-wide initiative and are embarking on a much more aggressive fresher hiring plan. Instead of hiring in specific units, we have a central unit now that hires freshers and for a variety of verticals and spectrum.
Your growth plans in an offshore location must be facing a lot of opposition in the US. How do you cope with it?
From an India perspective, we have not seen anything specific. We have heard of many instances, but it is only in the media. We have not seen anything specific at least with regard to the work that we do today. But as an IT professional, I believe market forces have a stronger role to play.
Attrition across sectors has touched a high, how are you addressing this problem?
Compared to other Indian players our numbers are not that large to be impacted significantly by the market. Where we do face a problem is the retention part. There are two parts to it. First, you have to significantly increase the touch points with your people. Once you do that, you come across as an organisation that focuses on employee growth. And once you do that, the other drivers of employees - such as the type of work and compensation - follows. I personally spend a lot of time communicating this point. And that is what people look for, so they remain engaged and motivated.
Are there key discussions on the emerging trend of near shoring that US companies are planning to start? How do you think it will change the Indian IT industry?
Near shoring in general is happening. However, in a global delivery model, it is not just about offshoring. It is about best shoring, which is a combination of offshoring and onshoring and offsite and onsite. And it depends on the particular opportunity, how it is best served, and what is the optimal breakdown. And with labour being the primary spend, you have to look at what all your labour cost depends on. Cost, time, quality and location have a major role to play.
